The Electoral Commission (EC) has mounted yet another defense for the compilation of a new voters’ register ahead of the 2020 general elections.
This justification is coming in despite the concerns raised by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that there is no real need for a new register for the upcoming polls.
News from the EC to compile a new voters’ register has been a controversial subject in the country with political parties expressing divergent views.
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The Commission insists the software being used to run the current biometric devices is “outdated and out of service”, and that most of the biometric verification devices are faulty with high repairing costs hence the need for a new and better Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS).
Addressing the media on Tuesday, Deputy Chairman in-charge of Operations, at the EC, Mr. Samuel Tettey, maintained that:
“There is no doubt that the voters register is bloated. The bloat is because we have not developed an effective way of cleaning the register. The bloated register increases the cost of our elections. The Commission always procures election materials based on the number of registered voters. This causes a lot of waste as the number of registered voters exceeds the actual voters.”
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“…Again, the Commission will go ahead with the preparation of a new biometric voters’ register based on the reasons provided earlier,” he said.
General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Aseidu Nketia has said it would be a waste of resources to buy biometric equipment for the election.
Source: www.citinewsroom.com
